A Perennial Daylily Wins A Dream Designation

(NAPSI)-Daylilies are a perennial treasured by America's gardeners. These sunny flowers supply bright drifts of color throughout the warmer months, and every year brings beautiful new varieties.

One of the newest additions to the growing family of winning All-American Daylilies is the Dream Souffle, which placed first in the Exhibition category.

It is the 17th winner and the first double-bloom daylily to win this award. Lilies don't win the award just for being pretty. They also have to demonstrate superior performance in dozens of criteria across at least five USDA hardiness zones.

Winning for both looks and hardiness, Dream Souffle features fluffy, double-petaled blooms that are a pastel rosy-pink blended with cream and flushed with yellow in the center.

The lily blooms in mid-season at 24 to 30 inches in height, above 16 to 20 inches of arching green deciduous foliage. It then repeat blooms, giving a total bloom period that ranges from 30 to 80 days. Unlike some doubles, this flower has consistent, fluffy double blooms that can create an eye-catching focal point in any garden setting. Stunning eye appeal is combined in this variety with hardy growth habit and good rust resistance.

The lilies were tested by the All-American Daylily Selection Council (AADSC), an organization that performs rigorous evaluations of daylily cultivars, taking into account over 50 criteria, including rust resistance.

The designation can help today's gardeners select the right lily from more than 40,000 different registered cultivars.

So far, nearly 6,000 hemerocallis (daylilies) available in commerce have been tested using methods that involve careful scientific methodology.

Thanks to such rigorous evaluations, gardeners can purchase All-Americans with confidence, knowing that these low-maintenance, high-impact, sun-loving beauties will thrive in backyard beds, front-walk borders or sundeck containers.

Past winners include:

• Black-Eyed Stella, best known for its performance as a nearly continuous bloomer.

• Lullaby Baby and Starstruck, honored for exquisite beauty and balance in the Exhibition category.

• Bitsy, which features a petite personality with a very powerful performance.

• Leebea Orange Crush, a rare daylily that exhibited such balanced performance it won in both the Landscape and Exhibition categories.

• Frankly Scarlet, a vibrant red that not only sustains but builds color intensity in the heat.

• Buttered Popcorn, a large buttery-gold bloom on sturdy 28- to 33-inch scapes. The golden beauty boasts nearly continuous blooming from mid-season into fall and up until frost.

• Persian Market, a large, showy salmon-pink with a rose halo on blooms 6 to 7 inches across. It produces loads of buds and has an exceptionally long bloom season in several zones.

• Lavender Vista, which pairs profuse lavender blooms with lush evergreen foliage.

• Summer Valentines, with striking pink blooms, a magenta eye and picotee edges.

For more information, visit www.allamericandaylilies.com.

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